The changing face of health care in Canada (Infographic)

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Canada’s aging population is going to have a significant impact on our health care needs and costs. According to The Sun Life Canadian Health Index, 90% of Canadians anticipate a financial impact if they were to experience a major or chronic illness. Yet only 58% are financially prepared to cover the cost of a serious illness. Are you prepared?

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Yes healthcare in Canada is broken. Too much being paid to the medical professions.
And to be fair too many people who abuse costly ER visits for coughs or colds. These people and everyone should pay a user fee so they think twice before seeing a dr for minor problems. And anyway, the pharmacists substitute my dr’s rx’s for generic crap! I want brand name drugs thank you and will pay thksL

Canada’s healthcare system is an absolute disaster. When my mother had to be hospitalised for 2 weeks due to a spinal fracture, I had to hire a PSW at $25/hr to care for her at night due to the lack of response from the nurses – call bell didn’t get any attention. Then they kicked her out due to shortage of beds and I had to hire a private PSW 7×24 hours through her recovery at home (CCAC gave us a few hours for bathing once a week). My dad went to a nursing home for a short stay during that time, was beaten by his violent room-mate and I had to hire a 7×24 PSW to care for him because he is blind (they told me each nurse had 15 residents to care for, so I found him scratching in the trash for a cookie). He used a walker before the nursing home, but they kept him sleeping and drugged so he was confused and I spent 2 month trying to rehab him without much success (CCAC refused to send a physiotherapist). At a month of 7×24 PSW costs, I spent my year’s salary on them. So much for free healthcare in Canada. The nursing homes and hospital are all in Scarborough Ontario – maybe they don’t like helping lower to middle income folk like us!

This is nonsense. Sun Life is trying to scare Canadians with what I believe to be false information…having Lyme Disease that went undiagnosed for too many years, the Canadian healthcare system has been stellar and I have not paid one cent…Americans are shocked when I tell them the treatment I have had and the money that was paid to finally find out what was wrong….our healthcare system is there for us and never let anyone make you believe it is not…our dysfunctional and corporately controlled media only report the odd case, not all the people who are very happy with our system…the scare stories only come from those who profit…as a friend always tells me, “follow the money”…
the “aging population” the media is always speaking about?…thnk about it, this aging population will be the highest tax paying aging generation ever…this aging generation will have pension, CPP, RSPs and general savings they will be paying taxes on…this aging population hysteria is created by those who want the system broken so they can return us to a system like Americans have, or like the British system, two tier, and may the gods help you if you are on the bottom tier…
Simply, protect our healthcare system, at all costs, from the vultures.

I will just provide you with this link in response to your belief that this is a “private enterprise bs” argument. This is the Canada Health website – read and realize that the Canada Health Act ONLY provides care intended to CURE – this is the whole issue

The Harper government is trying to destroy what is left of the Canadian health care system not fix it. They are trying to open up the market to privatization just like they are trying to do with other public sector jobs. If we have learned anything from other health care systems across the world it’s that privatization is certainly not the answer. Companies have only one concern and that is their profit margin. The only people they have to answer to is their share holders. So is anyone that naive that they think that private companies have your health in mind? Hopefully in the next election people in this completely apathetic country will start to wake up and kick out the conservatives and send that neo-conservative bourgeois lackey Harper back to his cave.

Could we perhaps stop denying death, and keeping people alive by hook or by crook past their “expiry date”? I will be 70 years old at my next birthday, the biblical three score and ten that used to be considered a good life span.
I enjoy life and do not have a death wish, but I am keenly aware of the advantages my cohort (just ahead of the Boomers) had. I do NOT want to be kept alive more years at the expense of the next generation. Comfortable, yes. But extensive invasive therapy or pricey drugs after say age 85, NO. Let me go and spend the resources on the young.

Make a plan, implement the plan, reassess our health care needs. When critical, our hospital staff are there for us.
Stop abusing the hospital system for small injuries and chronic conditions, open up available clinics with longer hours.
The United States system is a hospital nursing nightmare impossible to take care of those in need. The wealthy get the care and the less fortunate go without. Item by item is singularly charged in the private system whether you need it or not. Preventative care is the answer. Open the windows, clean up our environment, stop putting mining tailings into our water systems. Above all teach how to care for each other, people care, earth care, fair share, forward the yield. Open more clinics and community peaceful places for our elderly. The American nursing homes take our seniors’ money for fancy apartments having one nurse on for 6 floors to manage and residents are neglected. Oh yeah for privatization!!Not. People need to wake up and observe what is really going on. Get your heads out of the sand. Take care of our elderly, take care of yourself, help your friends and neighbours.

Spent 3 wks. in hospital, ICU, MICU and Medecine floor ( just switching to this) then a week in restorative care. I was fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your view. to have worked in health care, mostly in critical areas and later as a hospital supervisor. I was amazed with what I saw. Nurses have degraded themselves for not refusing to accept Certified Nursing assts.( Now personal care workers) into their union. Now they are dispensing medications after taking a course. Don’t read me wrong. I would and have worked with CNAs who I preferred to work with because of their strong work ethic. Yet most of the ones I viewed lacked good decision making skills. All other disciplines have become more professional. In nursing this is not so even though the degree is now in place. I could go on and on but I must move to cleanliness. Myself and the patient with me both had loose stools. Feces stains were there when I arrived and was still there when I was discharged. Scraps of used toilet paper littered the floor. I spoke to housekeeping while there. Don’t nursing staff note this. Would you leave your toilet in such condition at home? I think not! In MICU, a ride on machine polished the floors, yet a quick sweep mostly in the centre of the room sufficed. This is not the hospital setting I remember. Oh, yes, we rushed. That is a thing of the past. The staff generally do their best as best they can. Perhaps the decision makers should enter a hospital as a patient with no info on true background. Observe, don’t be critical and then make your decisions. You will be shockingly surprised. My thanks to all the staff from admission ( don”t remember that part) to discharge). Because of you, I did survive, my prognosis is better and I am home.

Public Healthcare will not be withdrawn – it will be CHANGED. The problem is (and check your history – I was around back then) is that Canada only adopted the parts of the program that seemed politically acceptable back then – what we are seeing today is caused – primarily – by the “stuff” they felt politically incapable of supporting

No it is NOT Sun Life ADVERTISING! Let me state that I do not work for Sun Life or any insurer. I am an independent financial advisor with 44 years of experience promoting Living Benefits to clients. It’s funny – but the moment an insurance company says ANYTHING, it is viewed like you do. I could give you a long discourse on why you should never count solely on your Group LTD coverage (for example) and my brother is a perfect example of why I say that. I am sorry – but if I had to choose between the three areas I work in – Disability Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance and Long Term Care Insurance – I would work exclusively in LTCI – because this is the largest financial need Canadians will have for the next 40 years.

It is not about wanting to kill public healthcare – it is about recognizing what the system does not – or cannot – be expected to provide. One of our problems is an almost universal belief that our public healthcare system looks after all our needs. It does not and never has and frankly – never will. The Canada Health Act (basically) provides for treatment that IMPROVES our condition – but not for MAINTAINING IT. Also – healthcare costs are growing rapidly – due to the costs of newer medication and to our rapidly ageing population. I am a BIT older than you – hit 67 last Friday – but a basic fact: When I was born in 1945 we had approximately 42 tax payers per retired individual. We are about to hit TWO. 25 years ago, someone 70 was OLD – someone 75? Very rare – or dead! Today? Someone 75 is where someone 65 was 25 years ago – that percentage of our population is EXPLODING as we take better care of ourselves – reduce the number of smokers – get more exercise – eat better BUT living longer has a price. It is the healthiest people who will need care the most later in life. Their bodies will not break down but Alzheimers and other forms of dementia will cause major issues – and major costs. The government will not be able to pay for it. They simply will not be able to collect enough money from a dwindling tax base. I have read “We should copy Scandinavia and have a publicly funded system. One problem – the AVERAGE income tax rate is 48% – and the problem will not really hit for another 10 years – when the boomers arrive in their mid-70’s. We need a MAJOR public discussion of all these issues and the possible solutions. I fully understand your point of view. I have a similar problem with my own medical costs – but the current system cannot solve the problems and people must wake up to this

Further comment – and this is totally away from Long Term Care – I believe at least most Provinces cover Prescription Drugs – but there is an approved list – and the drug must be on this list in order to be paid (and yes, I know you can ask for an exception – but that is a process which takes time and may not always be granted). One thing I learned due to my brother’s Hepatitis C is that as one drug gets added to the formulary, another comes off. So it is not a “permanent” list. Also the governmnets will NATURALLY wish to delay or avoid putting the newest (read “most expensive”) drugs on the formulary because they want to avoid or at least minimize any necessary premium increases. I am told that approximately 30% of the drugs behind your pharmacist’s counter are NOT covered. You want them paid? You will need private insurance. I am sorry – this is NOt a “money grab” people – this is an attempt to alert you before it is too late. Ask anyone – other than the staff – if they expected to be in the emergency room of a hospital today. I can almost guarantee that no one will say “Yes”! My brother did not expect to have some idiot pass another car where passing was not permitted – resulting in a head-on collision at a combined speed of about 120 mph. We did not expect him to survive – he did – but the blood transfusions that saved his life gave him HepC. This website is the best thing that has probably happened to many of its readers. It may save them/you from a disaster. Do NOT criticize it – read it and think about what is being said

Those who believe that Canada’s universal healthcare is long term sustaining are living in la la land. It makes absolutely no sense to compare Sweden and Canada. There is a vast difference in the way money can be allocated in Canada Vs Sweden. Sweden is a small country and the infrastructure costs are considerably less than those of a vast country like Canada. The percentage of economy allocated to health care will always be lower because of all the other costs sucking up the tax revenues. The options are simple-more taxes or less universal heath care. As welfare entitlements continue to swell in this country it will become more difficult to maintain anything but a “cure health care”. A maintenance system will have to come from the private sector and paid for by the public. The public will definitely put up the good fight but will lose the battle. The unbelievers will no doubt continue to follow those who promise to hold their hands and take good care of them no matter what. More fool them. Think Greece!

The Canadian health care system is horribly outdated and unsustainable. Sweden has a working health care system that couild easily be applied in Canada. The problem is that the Canadian government has no intention of revamping the system because it is an easy tax grab that swallows 47 cents of every tax dollar and keeps the coffers full of money.

I will certainly recognize that AS OF NOW Sweden’s health system is superb. The question we still need to see is if it can handle what will happen when the Baby Boomers start to need significant health care – starting in about 10 years

I am sorry (and I actually ran for the Green Party in a couple of recent elections) but anyone who believes that ANY of our present political parties (other than the NDP and the Green Party) have ANY idea of how to govern a country – beyond the idea of “Make OUR members rich” – well, I have some land in Florida and a bridge somewhere to sell you. Just look at how our present government is giving away BILLIONS of our money to public “servants”. I am sorry – but government in Canada is a “Get ME rich quick” system – not a system for Canadians

ANYTHING would be better than Harper and the Liberals – they have given LONG and solid proof that they have no respect for the Canadians who elect them. The only time they pay ANY attention to us is during an election. Do you actually believe ANYTHING either major party leader says? So – yes I would VASTLY prefer May and Mulcair. Jus to let you (and others) know – it is Green Party policy to have annual riding meetings to get feedback from the constituents. Also my son attended a similar meeting called by the NDP in his riding – the MP could not be there because it was Budget “vote” day in Parliament. Again – I just give you Harper’s approach to THAT – and his dictatorial attitudes in general. No thanks – Liberals and Tories will NEVER get my vote again

I am sorry – but given the nature of this whole issue – with politics and government VERY MUCH implicated in all of it – I feel I have a right to criticize the traditional parties. I am sorry – but their track record SUCKS! It is time we got away from the mainstream crooks and tried others

Elizabeth – I may be a financial advisor but I do NOT work for Sun Life or any financial institution. If you do not buy protection from one of the carriers, you will HAVE TO ACCEPT what the government can provide. Just read any newspaper and within two weeks, you will see the futility of THAT approach. Also remember that the problem has not even started yet. The real problem will hit in about 10 years when the front of the boomers start to need care

Further – given our entire economic situation AND the fact that we will lose about 40% of our doctors and 40% of our nurses to retirement in the next 20-odd years, we cannot REALISTICALLY expect the government to be able to do it ALL. Some must be done by the private sector. Accept this and prepare for it.

Tim, what you are saying is pure non sense. IF we are going to lose our nurse and doctors like you are saying, how is the private sector going to help ? They will invent new doctors and new nurses, like they will magically appear out of private sector ? If the amount of nurses is going down, it is also going down for private sector since they are getting their doctors the same place is the public system. I wonder if you are some representative of Sunlife trying to convince people, otherwise I don’t see what gains you are making by trying to convince everyone that private long term insurance is the key to their happyness and health. Even with Insurance, if there are no doctors available, what are you going to do with your insurance ? Oh yes, it will pop one out of the ground for you.

What we will see is a continuation of what we are seeing now – doctors moving away from the public sector and inro the private sector. I had a classmate in high school who has become a very successful physician in Montreal. Several years ago, he announced to his patients that he was leaving Medicare. To the best of my knowledge, he lost ONE patient. Private clinics are exploding. Go to almost any doctor in Montreal – if you are a Medicare patient, he will have double, triple – even quadruple – booked your time – so you wait most of the day. I have been to “private” (paid) care two or three times – they actually call you in BEFORE your scheduled appointment. We will HAVE the doctors – just not in the public system. By the way – these are not MY arguments – just read the newspapers and watch the system be forced to change

Mark G. on
July 2, 2012 at 4:58 am

This sounds like wishful thinking by Sunlife. Canadians have universal health care and it works well. Of course the wealthy can afford private health care and so they are the only threat to this. Private medical services such as MRI`s are already slowly creeping in. A good model for private health care is dentistry. Many people can no longer afford to go to the dentist because of the outrageous costs. The dentists live great lives because they are allowed to gouge patients and can charge whatever they like. They price fix amongst themselves to ensure that they make a good living and that they do not compete with each other too much. Canada is a stronger and kinder nation because people help each other out and the doctors still make very good incomes and people are generally healthier than in the US.

GOOD GOD! Public Healthcare – best known as Medicare – looks after ONLY WHAT CAN CURE! What an aging population will need – and what Sun is talking about is MAINTENANCE CARE. This is what our aging population will need and has a right to expect. The government does not have – and will never have – the money to adequately fund THAT! If you want to enjoy your retirement and not worry about running out of money – Long Term Care insurance is the most important protection you can have. It is what allows you to stay in your homes for as long as possible and NOT depend on the disaster that is government provided care for seniors

This is a corporate view of the changing healthcare profile in canada, currently we still have a universal healthcare program in this country. Sounds like Sunlife is looking to capitalize on this; |Canadians will not lose their healthcare without a real fight.

To Sharon – what Canadians either do not know – or forget – is that our Healthcare system only provides free care if it is intended to CURE you. The problem with our aging population is that much of the care they will need is not to “cure” but rather to “maintain” – and Canadian Medicare authorities have made it very clear that our healthcare system was never designed for that. Also – quite frankly – there will not be a tax base to pay for it. Even if you wanted to – please explain how a population with 42 tax payers per retiree when I was born (in 1945) that now is about to reach TWO tax payers per retiree can POSSIBLY support a government funded medical system. Sweden has a government funded system AND an AVERAGE tax rate of 48% – AND THE PROBLEM WILL ONLY START IN ABOUT 10 YEARs

To Tim Landry. You are obviously promoting the propaganda currently being pushed by the Conservatives that there is no money except to privatize ( a real disaster in the making). We have an excellent not for profit system health care in Canada and what is needed is real creativity to keep it going not more people promoting privatization. What insurance company are you working for? This whole brighter life thing is b.s. based on SunLife (an insurance company promoting its own corporate interests.

To Sharon – read this:
“This lack of awareness of this distinction is why so many families are caught off-guard when it comes to understanding LTC services!

The Canada Health Act, which came into force April, 1984, reaffirmed the national commitment to the original principles of the Canadian health care system, as embodied in our previous legislation, the Medical Care Act and the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act

Here is an explanation:

Long-term care services (i.e. home care and nursing home care), usually the everyday type we need as we are aging, are placed in a category called “extended services”
And here is the key

‘Extended services’ are not deemed ‘medically necessary’ and as such are not an insured service in the Canada Health Act such as doctor services and hospital services are!” Thanks to Patty Randall – from whose website I copied this!

Also – look at all the cutbacks the government is making. I despise the Tories as much as you seem to (do not like the Lieberals either) but cutbacks in services are a neccessity as our population ages. I am an independent (REPEAT INDEPENDENT) financial advisot who does happen to specialize in Living Benefits. Again this is fact – not bias – not company promo – just knowledgeable info

The health care system will have to work within a controlled level of funding which means they had better put on their thinking caps and find a ways to do more with less just like every other priviate business has do. I highly doubt it will be a one answer solution – ie privatize, or buy insurance from Sun Life or do nothing etc etc. It wil take pressure by all of us on our MPs and MPPs to get things moving faster and to get those politician to stop blaming each other. There is a problem for sure but that means there are opportunities and multiple solutions. So put pressure on and don’t let them off the hook.

I do not claim that Sun (or other insurance products) are THE answer – but they ARE A valid answer and must be seriously considered – not “back burnered” as some will suggest – as being SOLD to us.. I hate to say this but 67 years of living in Canada tells me that selling is NOT a bad thing. Dentists and Doctors SELL us all the time

Andre on
January 7, 2013 at 3:34 pm

Actually, Canadian health care system is practically useless for normal healthy people needing an occasional visit to a doctor, or better yet a doctor visit their child with a fever. I am forced to use an ER visit every time in such situations.

On the other hand, if you need a visit to a specialist, the wait time makes it almost impossible/impractical. Try to see a dermatologist an let me know how it went.

Only some acute conditions are treated efficiently and well. Don’t tell me about cancer treatment – they will “administer” radiation and chemo just to collect healthcare fees and they will kill the patient in the process. Know it second hand (I wouldn’t be writing about it if I knew it first hand).

Any autoimmune conditions – you are better off on your own, I know it from my own experience.

All-in-all – pathetic care. I would much rather see doctors forced to compete for patients than see them hand-fed at the government trough. Also, let the ones that really want to help being able to do so instead of following “the book” by pushing expensive drugs instead of treating the causes of chronic illnesses. The whole system is rigged and corrupt. It’s the highest time it gets scrapped.

I am not about to claim that our health care system is a good one. I have had my own experiences with “quality?” care – and by the way it was in an ER – I am just warning people not to expect much if anything when the care is required for “maintenance” – which is what older people generally need

J. Bell on
February 23, 2013 at 12:42 pm

Plus I would like to add that, yes there is going to be an “aged bubble” passing through our society, but that same “bubble has generated and is generating literally hundreds of billions (Trillions?) in revenue over many years. Is our government now trying to tell us that all that revenue is gone!!!!??? Where? Look how Harper changed Employment Insurance and generated upwards of 100 billion dollars in less than a decade! Where has that money gone? Our Universal Healthcare is way beyond ideological interference Mr. Harper. I believe it to be sacrosant. Put our money back into the Healthcare system and leave it alone. Any shortcomings in the system are because of government interference such as pulling money out to give their corporate/wealthy friends tax reductions. And that is the tip of the iceberg.

Brock MacLean on
November 25, 2012 at 7:28 am

Sharon…..somehow, things have to change or we will not have our cherished healthcare as it is forever. There has to be some user fees I feel to make people more accountable…If it costs $10 to go watch a movie, certainly we can each afford $10 each time we see our family doctor or go to the emergency ward of a hosptial….if we dont pay anything, it gives it little value to see the doctor and people do abuse the system. It is not some big corporate conspiracy as you suggest….right now, BC spends 42% of all the money they spend, on healthcare. and that figure is rising each year..soon the money for schools and roads will take second place to keep old geezers alive in healthcare facilities…my wife works in a care home, mostly full of old woman pushing 100….we have to wake up and smell the coffee.

Brock MacLean said it correctly Nov 25, 2012 at 7:28 am.
I grew up in Saskatchewan where medicare was first introduced in Canada. Tommy Douglas is sometimes said to be the ‘inventor’ of medicare. This is an untruth, Sweden were I believe the first to have public funded medicare.
When first introduced in SK, small user fees were required, however the CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation) Government – See their ‘Regina Manifesto’ – changed the policy such that user fees were eliminated.
That was the beginning of the failure of our medicare system. Abuses of the totally free (of course not free as taxpayers were paying for it) started the downfall of the medicare system and now there is a realization that we have a system that is un-sustainable. Living here many of us could see the abuses and how we were seeing problems looming. Unfortunately Federal Liberal Governments sold this ideology to Canadian voters and have adopted this across Canada. Don’t blame PM Stephen Harper or the present Conservative Federal Government for the problem we now face. At least Harper is an economist, not just a wealthy slick talking Lawyer like most of the former Liberal Prime Ministers. Once people get used to what they think of as free, it becomes difficult to take that ‘freebie’ away, the media and ‘bleeding hearts’ will attack you constantly, so where we go from here is a complex problem. I will not be around to witness and I can’t forecast a bright future for our health care system.
By the way I worked for and we now have the ‘Saskatchewan Party’ Government in Saskatchewan, a fresh change from the CCF, now their name has changed to NDP as they embraced the Labor Unions. At least our Province is gaining notice as a place to do business and many who had moved away to Alberta in particular are returning, as well as Immigrants from the Ukraine and Phillipines, etc., who are finding good opportunities here.

“Old geezers” might desire euthanasia…..oh, can’t opt for that in Canada? I hope it is an option when I need it. I can’t imagine I would be happy in a home at 100. I watched my mother gradually lose her friends, her health, her family members and finally her mind. She was good at 80 but by 84 she was ready to leave. Had to wait another 2 years for relief.

Canadians are being told public health care financing is not ’sustainable’, and that the solution is a shift to more private health insurance and private delivery of services.

According to Canada’s leading health care economist, “bluntly, this is a lie.”

Robert G. Evans, O.C., Ph.D. (Economics, Harvard), an officer of the Order of Canada, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, recently delivered this message to Members of Parliament during a special briefing session.